Aaron nodded.
“Then tell me why the damage is on the inside edge.”
He stared at the photograph.
“I do not remember.”
Elena turned a page.
“You gave me three different sequences in seven minutes.”
Aaron reached for the salt shaker again.
“She was confused.”
Elena stopped him with one question.
“Who told you the camera existed?”
Aaron’s hand stayed above the table.
Douglas looked at him.
Nobody spoke.
Elena picked up the evidence form.
“The camera was logged at 5:42.”
Douglas’s eyes moved to the paper.
“What camera?”
Elena did not answer him.
Aaron did.
“The one above her bookshelf?”
I looked at him.
For the first time that morning, Aaron looked uncertain about which version of the story he was supposed to give.
Elena folded the evidence
form once.
“The first recording date is February 8.”
Douglas looked at Aaron.
Aaron stopped touching the salt shaker.
I looked at the kitchen clock.
Seven minutes past seven.
Elena placed the form beside the photograph.
“Madison, I need to ask you one more question.”
I waited.
“Why did you think you needed a camera before tonight?”
I looked at Aaron, then at Douglas.
“I can tell you.”
Elena opened a fresh page.
“But I need the exact date first.”
I looked at the line where she had written February 8.
She wrote the date of the first recording on the evidence form.
Elaine turned the coffee pot off and opened the junk drawer for the third time.
“Your coat button has to be somewhere.”
